Evzio reverses an opioid overdose and costs $4,100 for two doses
20 November 2018
MARKET WATCH — The privately held drugmaker Kaleo Inc. increased the price of its lifesaving medication by more than 600% in recent years, a new Senate subcommittee report has found, calling the company’s actions a way of taking advantage of the U.S. opioid crisis.
Evzio dispenses naloxone, a substance that can reverse an opioid overdose that is widely used by medics in treating addicts. After price hikes made over the course of just 11 months, Evzio cost $4,100 for two doses, a burden shouldered by federal programs, taxpayers and health insurers, according to the report.
Two doses of the other brand-name naloxone product, Narcan, cost $125, by contrast, and more inexpensive generic naloxone products are also available.
In spite of the product’s high price tag, though, “Kaléo has still not earned a profit in over four years of the drug being on the market,” the new report found.
For its part, Kaleo points to that fact as proof of its good intentions, as well as the thousands of lives it says that Evzio has saved since its launch. […]
Post a Comment